For John Jay softball's Danielle Bonici, the game day routine works

Photo courtesy Richard FormicaDanielle Bonici is hitting a career high .449 this season for John Jay and hopes to lead the Bloodhounds in the CUNYAC Tournament.Danielle Bonici's hot hitting at John Jay College has lasted about four years.

Her secret is simple.

"I have to eat Wheaties in the morning of days we have games, I have to listen to the same songs, and I can't step on the white line," said Bonici. "The team will make fun of me if I get a hit they will say, 'I guess she ate her Wheaties.'"

The routine has worked for the St. Peter's graduate. She hit .439 as a freshman, .388 as a sophomore, .387 as a junior and was batting a career-high .449 this year through last Thursday.

And it has led to John Jay improving its win total in each of her first three seasons, from 10 to 12 to 13 and its conference record from 4-8, to 5-6 to 8-4 last year.

Bonici was named the CUNYAC/Hospital for Special Surgery student-athlete of the month for not just her high batting average, but a 3.4 grade point average as a criminal justice major.

The irony of the award is that she had offseason shoulder surgery on her rotator cuff and labrum at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

That's not an easy recovery for a shortstop.

"There was pain, every throw, every swing," said Bonici. "But I decided I was going to play until I couldn't play anymore."

Now she says she's pain-free thanks to Dr. Frank Cordasco and trainer Michelle Laboski, who did her physical therapy. Well, pain-free in her shoulder.

Bonici said she was hit in the head after a collision with a base runner and had to leave Tuesday's first game with Hunter, a 9-1 loss. In the nightcap, which Bonici missed entirely after being diagnosed with a concussion, John Jay trailed 16-14 and had the bases loaded when the game was called for darkness.

John Jay finished up 7-7 in the improving CUNY and, after six non-league games left on the schedule, they will play Brooklyn in a play-in game on May 5 to see who advances to the CUNY Tournament.

Injury or not, she knows where she will be.

"I just need to rest for a while," she said. "There are different guidelines for different concussions, but I should be ready to go May 5. I am going to play."